French presidential hopeful François Fillon is facing a preliminary investigation into possible misuse of public funds. A newspaper alleged his wife Penelope was paid out of parliamentary funds over eight years for a job it claimed she never carried out. It is legal for French MPs to hire family members. According to French online investigative journal Mediapart, 52 wives, 28 sons and 32 daughters of MPs were apparently employed using parliamentary funds in 2014

Source: The Guardian January 27, 2017 15:18 UTC